I was in the first wave and happened to pick the Black/Yellow combo, so I received my bike last week and was pleasantly surprised. I've no e-bike experience and following the campaign (with a little skin in it) was a good diversion for the last 5 months. I have a road bike (cannondale R700) and a mountain bike (cannondale F600) and probably ride 1-2k miles a summer, trainer in the winter. Anyway, gave my money away to Indiegogo/Sondors on a complete whim, which was crazy because I never get sucked into these things, completely aware of the “too good to be true” rule. I’ve always spent money on bikes though, and have never regretted it, so I thought, what the hey. I thought of the commute to work being a bit easier.
So far, I prefer to pedal my road bike when I do commute (18 mi. each way), but would have no problem packing the charger and charging at work with no worries about range.
I've only ridden it about 4 times and only a couple miles, and at first was shocked at how easy it was to pedal without using the throttle. The weight and those huge tires? It was about as easy as my road bike, if not easier. Well, obviously, when I took it out again the second time, I turned off the controller and realized I was experiencing the pedal assist. It’s obvious now, because if you only turn the crank with very little human assist, the bike will begin to accelerate on its own. Being new to e-bikes, what a great feature.
Just this last weekend, my wife took it when I went on a quick 15 mile ride on my road bike and she primarily used the peddle assist and occasionally using the throttle and it really opened up a new option for us to get out together when exercising. She’s a runner, I’m a biker and we rarely exercise together, except when walking.
This whole campaign has really opened my eyes to the potential of e-bikes and can see myself buying another this summer, currently checking out the new Specialized road bike and the Easy Motion Neo.
Anyway, it was great to finally see Court’s review and really appreciated the honesty and even addressing some of the concerns regarding theoretical battery issues and the general use of inexpensive components.
But, like some of the other posters, I think missing the pedal assist (for whatever reason) really misses one of the primary features of the bike. Would it be possible for him (whenever convenient) to take another spin and evaluate how it works compared to the other bikes?
